Another New Bird (for me) on the Tuolumne River: A Western Wood-Pewee

I was kind of excited to add two birds to my Tuolumne River Parkway Trail list this week. The first, and most exotic, was the Forster's Terns that I was able to get pictures of (finally). On the same day I saw the first tern, I also saw a bird that acted just like a Black Phoebe, chasing insects from a prominent perch and flying back. But it wasn't black. I realized eventually that I had come across a Western Wood Pewee (Contopus sordidulus). It isn't entirely unusual to see them here in the valley, but they are more common in hilly or mountainous terrain. They are also a summer migrant, and they've been seen at just four localities in our county thus far this year (according to eBird).

I have seen Pewees before, but in a far different and unusual place: Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge, an oasis in the barren desert east of Death Valley National Park. They range across all the western states and Alaska as well as Central America and the northernmost part of South America. Their range ends across a north-south line in the Great Plains, a line that coincides with the western edge of the range of the Eastern Wood Pewee. The birds are pretty much identical aside from their songs, but according to eBird there is little evidence that the two species interbreed. This leads to an interesting mystery: they migrate south for the winter, but no one is sure about where they go. The birds don't sing often in winter, and are thus pretty much indistinguishable in their winter habitat. Wherever it may be.